Support Our Partnership in Care

Since 2000 Empath Health has partnered with HospiceWits in Johannesburg and Soweto, South Africa. Commitment to caring for the whole person, family and community is the same whether you live in Florida or South Africa. South Africa does not have a hospice or palliative care insurance benefit so much of HospiceWits’ work is supported by donors. In response to South African economic changes HospiceWits has recently downsized staffing and cut back on services and goods provided to patients and their families.

At Empath Health we acknowledge full life care requires attention to the medical, spiritual and psychosocial needs of the patient and his/her family. We are fortunate to have the means to assist our sister hospice in its mission to provide the highest quality of care with all available resources.

Consider:

      • There were 210,000 new HIV infections in South Africa in 2021
      • In 2021, 54,000 people died in South Africa from AIDS-related illnesses
      • More than 7.5 million adults and children are living with HIV
      • There are approximately 270,000 children aged 0-14 living with HIV
      • There are 960,000 children aged 0-17 orphaned from AIDS

 

HospiceWits needs resources for:

      • Food. Many of its patients rely on food parcels to have sufficient food to eat and accompany their medication. HospiceWits no longer has a donor providing funds for these food parcels.
      • Medications. There is no funding source for medication for HospiceWits’ patients.
      • Personal hygiene items. HospiceWits needs funds to purchase personal needs items such as adult diapers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, etc.

 

What You Can Do:

Support HospiceWits by donating to Suncoast Hospice Foundation.